Developers, archdiocese seek to rehab old seminary

The main St. John's Seminary building is located next to Mission Concepción. The Zoning Commission on Tuesday approved a plan by 210Developers to rehab the seminary into apartments and other uses.

The main St. John's Seminary building is located next to Mission Concepción. The Zoning Commission on Tuesday approved a plan by 210Developers to rehab the seminary into apartments and other uses.

Photo: William Luther /San Antonio Express-News

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210 Developers Partner David Tolley is silhouetted Tuesday by a proposed plan to redevelop the former seminary near Mission San José. . The zoning change requested by the developers was approved on a 6-0 vote of commissioners. less

210 Developers Partner David Tolley is silhouetted Tuesday by a proposed plan to redevelop the former seminary near Mission San José. . The zoning change requested by the developers was approved on a 6-0 ... more

Photo: William Luther /San Antonio Express-News

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Father David Garcia: Pilgrims passing through the Holy Door will experience a changing of attitudes.

Father David Garcia: Pilgrims passing through the Holy Door will experience a changing of attitudes.

Photo: William Luther /San Antonio Express-News

Mission building rezoned for apartments

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A local developer on Tuesday inched closer to its proposal to add about 240 apartments close to Mission Concepción by receiving unanimous approval from the Zoning Commission to rezone six acres on the mission grounds.

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The group, 210 Developers, in an agreement with the Archdiocese of San Antonio, would rehabilitate the crumbling St. John’s Seminary and other on-site buildings and construct four two-story buildings behind the mission. The $26 million project, according to city officials, would add mixed-rate apartments and 1,800 square feet of office space on the South Side.

The circa-1920 St. John’s Seminary, according to the archdiocese, has been the target of vandalism and the home of squatters since the property was abandoned in 2011, when the Patrician Movement, a drug rehab center, closed.

“Unfortunately, as it stands today, the site is a magnet for crime, vagrancy and arson,” 210 Developers partner Mark Tolley told commissioners.

But the discourse at Tuesday’s meeting also included residents who live near Mission San José. 210 Developers is proposing a 144-unit apartment complex across the street from that mission. Pushing back is a newly formed group called the Alliance for San Antonio Missions, which is asking the city to put a moratorium on development around the missions until the impact of such projects built near World Heritage Sites can be studied further. The group believes a buffer zone intended to restrict development around the South Side missions is ineffectual.

“Our group is not opposed to development,” alliance member Carroll Brown said. “We’re fine with intelligent development. I’m not sure these proposals fall into that category. We should do everything in our power to preserve (the World Heritage designation) and enhance it.”

Father David Garcia, administrator of the Mission Concepción parish, told the Express-News the new buildings would not affect the mission’s viewshed; Tolley said the new apartments are well below the buffer zone.

Former Mayor Henry Cisneros, who said he’s going to be an investor in the Mission Concepción project, told the Express-News in a text that he’s suggested to 210 Developers that it put on hold the Mission San José project and concentrate on Concepción.

“It is my advice that they concentrate their efforts on making St. John’s the best project possible on this sensitive heritage site,” Cisneros wrote.

Commissioner Orlando Salazar told the room that development around the missions should be considered case by case. He is a parishioner at Mission Espada, and said if a similar development were proposed for that more rural mission, he’d have a different reaction.

“We really need to consider every mission separate from the precedent we set here,” Salazar said. “This mission happens to be a little closer to town and a little more developed. If any type of development is proposed around Mission Espada, I wouldn’t say ‘no,’ I would say, ‘hell no.’”

“I’m just saying that, in the end, I’m going to support this, but it’s only for this mission alone.”

The development still needs final approval from the Historic and Design Review Commission and City Council.

If those hurdles are cleared, a long-term, 80-year ground lease would kick in between 210 Developers and the archdiocese that would allow the developer to rehab and build; the archdiocese would still own the property.

The archdiocese said it could not afford to refurbish the St. John’s Seminary on its own, so it solicited bids from developers and chose 210 Developers’ proposal. The buildings had acted as a seminary from 1920 to 1970. In 1971, the Patrician Movement moved in and served as a rehab center until it closed in 2011.

The project at Mission Concepción also drew support from the San Antonio Conservation Society.

The Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association has remained mum on the Mission Concepción project, because its board remains ambivalent on whether to support it. The only nearby resident, Candie Beltran, told commissioners it’s time something is done to the old seminary.

“There have been fires there,” Beltran said. “Homeless people live in the property. They have dogs that guard them instead of the property.

“I know these people are asking for a moratorium, but the people in the neighborhood cannot wait five years for something to happen to that property.”

Assistant City Manager Lori Houston said the Mission Concepción project is eligible for incentives under the Center City Housing Incentive Policy — $2 million in city and SAWS fee waivers, and a 15-year tax abatement on city and ad valorem taxes. The application is under review, Houston said.